With attrition warfare taking place in this region of central Syria, the Al-Qaeda affiliated HTS and allied Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions seem to have accepted minor territorial losses in return for inflicting heavy casualties upon the largely secular SAA.

Fresh footage released by HTS shows its forces blowing up a Kornet rocket-launcher position with a guided missile of their own. The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon at the government-held village of Zughba:

Towards the end of the video, an SAA soldier could be seen from afar inspecting the damage caused by the missile impact.

Led by the Qalamoun Shield Forces, the SAA hopes to gradually push towards the border with Idlib amid a wider bid to reach and eventually retake the Al-Qaeda heartland.

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